Conventionally, concrete products which are used for ornamental purposes are provided with various patterns including designed letters on the surface thereof for enhancing the aesthetic effects or the ornamental effects.
For providing patterns on the surface of such conventional concrete products, several methods have been proposed, wherein one method applies a paint on the surface of the concrete products, another method utilizes steel cores for providing patterns and still another method utilizes a wooden mold provided with protrusions and recesses on the surface thereof for providing patterns.
The first method, however, cannot provide fine or delicate patterns on the surface of the concrete products since the surface is, in general, considerably rough. Furthermore, the painted patterns deteriorate in a short period and are peeled off from the concrete products and it is a time-consuming and laborious work to manually paint patterns on each concrete products.
The second method and the third method also are deficient for producing patterns made of fine or delicate lines or designs.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing concrete products which can overcome the drawbacks of the conventional methods, wherein the method can produce concrete products which are provided with inlaid patterns on the surface thereof and such inlaid patterns are capable of maintaining their aesthetic or ornamental effects vividly for many years.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for producing concrete products provided with inlaid patterns, wherein the inlaid patterns are made of fine and delicate lines so that even patterns made of complicated designs can be readily applied on the surface of the concrete products.
In summary, the present invention discloses a method for producing concrete products provided with inlaid patterns comprising (a) prepared a reusable mold provided with recessed patterns by emitting ultraviolet rays on the surfaces of an ultra-violet-ray setting resin layer, (b) preparing a waste mold provided with recessed patterns from the reusable mold, the waste mold being made of a soluble material which can be dissolved by water, solution or heat, (c) casting concrete into the waste mold and solidifying the concrete to produce a concrete block on the waste mold, (d) melting or removing the waste mold from the concrete block and providing recessed patterns on the surface of the concrete block, (e) filling a coloring material into the recessed patterns on the surface of the concrete block and solidifying the coloring material, (f) grinding the surface of the concrete block to produce concrete products provided with inlaid patterns on the surface thereof.
According to this invention, the reusable mold can be produced by applying the ultraviolet rays on the ultra-violet-ray setting resin, the reusable mold can exhibit the recessed patterns on the surface thereof which are substantially as fine and delicate as patterns on the original. Using this reusable mold, the waste mold is produced from a plastic material such as paraffin which is soluble by water, solution or heat so that the fine and delicate recessed patterns on the reusable mold can be accurately reproduced on the surface of the waste mold. Making use of this waste mold, the concrete block provided with recessed patterns can be produced, wherein the fine and delicate recessed patterns on the waste mold can be accurately reproduced on the surface of the concrete block. By filling the coloring material into the recessed patterns on the concrete block and grinding the surface of the concrete block after the coloring material is solidified, the concrete product provided with inlaid patterns can be produced, wherein the inlaid patterns can accurately reproduce the fine and delicate recessed patterns of the waste mold, and eventually the fine and delicate patterns of the original. The degree of fineness of the inlaid patterns can be enhanced by utilizing concrete of fine grain size.
Since the patterns on the concrete product are inlaid into the concrete product, the patterns will not fade for many years and the peeling off of the patterns can be prevented effectively.
Since many waste molds can be readily produced from a single reusable mold, and the concrete is cast on all waste molds simultaneously to produce concrete products, concrete products having the same patterns can be produced on a mass-production basis.
Since the waste mold can be removed from the concrete block by dissolving the waste mold, the damage which may occur during the removing operation can be completely prevented thus the fine and clear patterns of the original can be reproduced on the surface of the concrete products.